Retired players should promote tennis, not talk about players today as mediocre.
Listen to Rod Laver, the man said one real grand slam in this era would be worth as much as both his because of the competition which is alot better today than in his era.

That is a man with no ego, not afraid of his records to be broken. Rod Laver knows what he did was amazing and nothing will take it away from him, he will still be a legend. Sampras wants to be more than a legend, he wants to be remembered as the best. Federer is going to pass him and break all records and it will nto be because of the weak era, but because Federer is great.

No one repeats that much that this era is weak. Sampras says so in every single interview he is asked about Federer. It is just so bitter of him (even if it would been true). HE should be a gentleman like Laver and other all time greats.

Pete got taken out by "Baby-Fed" on Centre Court. Now "Jesus-Fed" is going to annihilate all his records and Pete simply cannot take it. He tried his level best to act gracious, but just can't help himself - the bitterness and jealousy comes through every time. I agree that Laver has a lot more class.

i have always found pete boring!!!, so this isnt surprising. simply having more slams doesnt mean your are a better player but roger is closing that on him too. at the end of the day most people would agree, compared to pete... roger is in a world of his own, and to give the credit to racket technology is ungracious and stupid. pete was a great player, but i think agassi was a BETTER player as he kept up the "newer" generation of players longer!

I know its not easy for Sampras to accept he will be passed so quickly, and he has to diss today's game just to make his records look more impressive but i do believe he respects Federer and knows/accepts that fed is a better player than he was.

Federer will never get proper recognition in america because they just dont get it when a 'foreigner' dominates the sport, its all about them and their glory days of the 80's, 90's.
to them tennis is inferior now that there is no Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Chang, Mcenroe, Connors sweeping the majors every year.
This mighty fed guy is only winning slams all the time because the rest of the world sucks, to them.
Pete is not that ignorant, but the fact is he couldnt dominate as much as Fed did in a 4 year stretch, looking back that makes his era look more competative - because he lost once in a while, the reality of that is he just wasnt as good at dominating all the time as Rogi is.

Look at the clowns playing today. It's crazy that someone like Fernando Gonzalez can even hit with a racket. It's the technology, see. It has made mediocre players better and it has made the great players that much better. That's why I'm back.

It's easier for Laver to say Fed's better, he didn't play him, and it's not his generation, we can't compare with Sampras.
I just think people forget quickly. Sampras was on another planet when he played Agassi etc... but it seems nobody remembers his amazing matches.
People who disliked him as a player just continue to dislike him as a man, that's all.

Pete got taken out by "Baby-Fed" on Centre Court. Now "Jesus-Fed" is going to annihilate all his records and Pete simply cannot take it. He tried his level best to act gracious, but just can't help himself - the bitterness and jealousy comes through every time. I agree that Laver has a lot more class.

I'm glad you learned how to read. Where do you see that Pete "simply cannot take" his records being broken? He seems to completely realize this, and he isn't crying about it. Pete does want to be remembered as the greatest ever, what man who works his ass off and dominates like no other(up to that point) doesn't? He realizes that Roger is doing the same thing, only in a weaker pool of talent. There's nothing wrong with Pete bringing this to our attention. Rod Lover is a joke, don't bring him into a discussion about Sampras/Federer, true warriors of the game.

Good interview with Petey. I'm not surprised to see the paranoid Fedtards all up in arms overreacting and misconstruing everything he says as being some kind of veiled diss to today's players. I saw nothing sinister behind his gracious words.

I'm looking forward to seeing what damage Pete can do on the seniors tour (hopefully take care of baby Rios who has no business being on the senior tour to begin with).

__________________"What kind of shape am I in now? Well round is a shape." said Roddick with a laugh. "I had a very detailed retirement plan, and I feel like I've met every aspect of it: a lot of golf, a lot of carbs, a lot of fried food, and some booze, occasionally — I've been completely committed ... The results have shown."

I'm glad you learned how to read. Where do you see that Pete "simply cannot take" his records being broken? He seems to completely realize this, and he isn't crying about it.

Oh yes he is. When his records go, he won't be remembered as #1 any more. So he has to pretend that the records aren't really going, that Fed's records are somehow "fake." Where do I see this? In just about everything he says. There are sly little digs all over the place - you don't have to look hard! (and other interviews have been worse than this one - at least here he pretends to be gracious). Examples of "sly little digs":

"People have mentioned to me: You should come back. There's not many great players today"

"He's winning these majors with pretty much ease. He's not challenged much."

"If there were three or four guys who were pushing him..."

"I don't see him slowing down or anyone slowing him down." (liked this one - "or anyone slowing him down")

"I would attack his backhand, which is his weaker side, and go from there. Unfortunately, we don't have anyone who can do that today" - this one is particularly silly as there are several players on tour with better backhands than Pete who have tried and failed to break down Fed's B/H. I mean Hewitt used to out-backhand Pete for god's sake. Federer's B/H is far superior to Pete's.

"James Blake is No. 6 in the world and I wonder what it would be like to play him at this stage of my life if he gave me a few months to prepare." - Translation: Even at 35 I can beat that sucker. Well, put your money where your mouth is, then! The Wimbledon W/C is waiting for you. If it is true that you can take out the world #6, you can certainly do some damage there. Better than being a bitter old man sniping from the sidelines.

"It is crazy the amount of power a guy like Fernando Gonzalez can get from that racket. It has made mediocre players better..." Translation: He is a mediocre player with a good racquet. I don't think this one is really on. Gonzo is not mediocre, he was posting winner/ UE stats at the AO that I can't remember Pete ever getting close to (although of course it may just be the racquet!)